25/26 Football thread DEAD, USE A NEW ONE

[Devon Malcolm]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c79l8g84p59o

From 'going bust at Christmas' to a possible outlay of over £200 million this summer. What a miraculous turnaround!

[Ironic Indie Lad]

12 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c79l8g84p59o

From 'going bust at Christmas' to a possible outlay of over £200 million this summer. What a miraculous turnaround!

All that profit from all the GREAT sales United have made in the summer...

I wont go into all the sales. Too many to mention really.

[Carbomb]

Been interesting watching the David Moyes Invitational

[Ironic Indie Lad]

It is (somehow) looking likely that Man United will end up signing Sesko.

Romano is saying he has agreed to person terms with the club. Widely reported that Man United put in a decent bid yesterday.

ON PAPER a front 3 of Sesko, Mbuemo and Cunha with Bruno in behind them should be good. 

Looking forward to one of them getting a serious injury against Fiorentina on Saturday. 

[mim731]

Sesko might turn out to be incredible, but it's a massive gamble for the price and wages. I think that's why we opted for Gyokeres instead. That all the top level European clubs (not meant as a shot at United, just reflecting their current situation rather than history) passed on him would be an alarm bell for me, but it might just be that he's still very raw. 

[Devon Malcolm]

If Sesko was going into last season's United side, he would be guaranteed to struggle. It was a team designed not to pass to a central striker. And while Hojlund is shit, he would have scored a few more goals with Mbeumo and Cunha around him.

Sesko isn't shit and will get service. I don't think he's a huge gamble but I also don't think he will be the huge success that they need, although I think he will score more than Gyokeres.

It won't matter anyway because Liverpool will piss the title again.

[Carbomb]

I'm not even thinking in terms of the title. It'll be easy to beat the low bar of last season, but given how fucked the entire club setup has been over the course of twelve years (not to mention there's still no proof that Petrol Jim's approach is necessarily anything more than a load of blagging), getting into Europe would be the highest I would expect for United right now. Winning the title again is the re-construction work of years, not a couple of seasons.

[SuperBacon]

None of these lads hold a candle to Europa League winners Dom Solanke and Richarlison

Worringly, with Son leaving and Maddison and Kulusevski out injured, Spurs have lost around 70 goals and assists from last season, and aren't anywhere near doing anything about it.

I still think we will win 5 trophies this season, but it wont be as straightforward as I'd hoped.

[mim731]

29 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Sesko isn't shit and will get service. I don't think he's a huge gamble but I also don't think he will be the huge success that they need, although I think he will score more than Gyokeres.

Out of curiosity, what's this opinion based on? I've seen a reasonable amount of both last season and I think Gyokeres definitely feels like the more seasoned option and his finishing has been generally pretty clinical, as borne out by his impressive stats. Sesko seems very raw still, physical attributes are there but I'm not convinced by his finishing in terms of consistency. 

[TheBurningRed]

At least Sesko has a good goal record. Hojlund’s was crap at Atalanta and is only slightly better with United. Sesko is the same age and already has over a 100 career goals. I know the premier league is a different beast, but I do think he will do really well here and improve us up top immediately. 

Gyokeres will be a flop imo. 8 premier league goals. 

[SuperBacon]

3 minutes ago, mim731 said:

borne out by his impressive stats.

To be fair, even Helder Postiga scored a lot in Portugal

[mim731]

1 minute ago, SuperBacon said:

To be fair, even Helder Postiga scored a lot in Portugal

Oddly, not as many as I remembered. I know you're being flippant as per, but as an aside, I just had a look because I recall my Spurs supporting mates claiming he was going to be a top goalscorer in the Prem because they reckoned he was scoring in every game. His highest total in a season was 31 across all competitions for Porto. Still impressive, but not as much as I'd been led to believe back in the day. Quite disappointing in a way. 

Gyokeres got 54 in 52 last year, I think he'll be fine. 

[tiger_rick]

I think United's business looks excellent. It's sensible - or as sensible as a couple of hundred million gets you if you're one of the big 6 - and Cunha and Mbuemo are proven PL commodities who look a great fit. Sesko is clearly someone everyone has had a look at, and would probably be up front for Arsenal if Leipzig had sold last summer.

I like the look of Dorgu too. For all the issues of last season, all of the transfers under Amorim look decent, there is really good young talent on the fringes of the first team and someone making really bold decisions.

The only problem for them so far is the bad smell hanging round from the players they desperately need to shift. Similar to Chelsea. They've made great signings but have this mad "bomb squad" that they can't rid of. If United do clear Garnacho, Antony, etc, I really fancy them to have a good season with some decent feel good factor and even reclaim their position in the top.... 8.

[TheBurningRed]

Dorgu was really good the other night against Bournemouth. Got a goal and assist. Worked his bollocks off. He’s looked good since we signed him tbf. 

[Devon Malcolm]

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

Out of curiosity, what's this opinion based on? I've seen a reasonable amount of both last season and I think Gyokeres definitely feels like the more seasoned option and his finishing has been generally pretty clinical, as borne out by his impressive stats. Sesko seems very raw still, physical attributes are there but I'm not convinced by his finishing in terms of consistency. 

He's had two excellent seasons in a two or three team league. Otherwise it's been a mediocre career. I'm also not convinced Arsenal's playing model will fit a very fixed central striker such as him unless Arteta is planning on changing it. If he does then Gyokeres *should* score plenty of goals. But you're asking established players like Saka to change what they're very good at and that's a risk.

I do think he will score goals and I don't think he'll be a flop, but I think the model that Amorim is crafting at United is better suited to the type of player Gyokeres is, hence why I think Sesko might be more of a success.